Rajnath Singh hits back at Congress, says it divides on religious lines

Rajnath Singh also criticized Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his remarks that it would be "disastrous" if Narendra Modi became the PM, and said that it was his tenure which had been a disaster while Gujarat had become a model state under Modi.

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NEW DELHI: Hitting back at UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for calling BJP communal, party chief Rajnath Singh on Saturday accused the Congress of practising politics of dividing people along religious lines.

Singh also criticized Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his remarks that it would be "disastrous" if Narendra Modi became the PM, and said that it was his tenure which had been a disaster while Gujarat had become a model state under Modi.

"I want to remind Sonia Gandhi that it was Manmohan Singh who had said that Muslims have the first right on India's resources. If there is any party which takes decisions based on religious considerations, it is Congress. If there is any communal party, it is Congress," Singh said while speaking at the National Council meet of the BJP.

He further added that it was home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, from her government, who spoke about "Hindu terror".

Gandhi had in her speech at AICC meet on Friday said that opposition BJP's ideology is divisive and communal.

Addressing party members here, Singh said that Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi was trying to appropriate credit for passage of Lokpal Bill though the legislation owed its existence to the efforts of social activist Anna Hazare and BJP leaders had also put pressure on the government.

The BJP president said that the Congress-led UPA government had failed to live-up to people's expectations and the economy is in shambles.

He said Congress would want that a weak government comes to power at the Centre as a strong government under Modi could endanger its future.

"The governments provided by Narendra Modi in Gujarat, Shivraj Singh Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh and Raman Singh in Chhattisgarh have put a question mark over the Congress' future in these states. The Congress fears that a strong government under Modi could do the same at the national level," he said.

Singh said Modi had been a victim of propaganda to label him "communal" despite clean chit from courts and investigation agencies.